Dr Peter Matthews, National Museum of Ethnology, Senri Expo Park, Suita 565-8511, Japan. Tel. +81 (6) 6876-2151. Fax +81 (6) 6878-7503. Email: info (at-mark) researchco-op.co.nz
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Wildtype taro in Queensland, Australia. A similar wildtype taro is found in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, where it is known as a famine food and fodder for pigs (PJM 8.10.03)
Cultivated and/or domesticated plants have been found at many Jomon sites, and are mainly from the middle to late Jomon period. They include barley, wheat, rice, red bean, pea, buckwheat, bottle gourd, and peach (see list in MacNeish, The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman and London, 1992, p. 164).
Cannabis sativa Has been reported as processed fibre at the Torihama wetland miidden site (middle Jomon) and in numerous sites in more recent archaeological and historical periods.
Colocasia esculenta Green vegetable with edible starchy corms; ancient crop, globally distributed in cultivation, tropical to temperate zones; often suggested to have been used in Japan during Jomon period, but no direct evidence yet forthcoming. See taro.co.nz, and articles in S. Yoshida, & P. J. Matthews (eds) (2002) Vegeculture in Eastern Asia and Oceania. JCAS, Osaka.
Perilla Aromatic edible herbs, widespread in eastern Asia, see: M. Nitta, J. K. Lee, & O. Ohnishi (2003) Asian Perilla crops and their weedy forms: their cultivation, utilization, and genetic relationships. Economic Botany 57, 245-253 (an excellent overview, introduces reports from Jomon sites; plant said to have been introduced to Japan from China and/or Korea).